Commons Sense

House of Commons · General Debate

Affordable Housing (Conversion of Commercial Property)

22 February 2023 · 1 other contributor

Opened by Vicky Ford Con Chelmsford

Housing

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Vicky Ford raised concerns about affordable housing (conversion of commercial property) in the House of Commons. Other MPs contributed to the debate.

Key points

  • Chelmsford constituency has a shortage of affordable housing with 360 families in temporary accommodation.
  • Chelmsford City Council builds around 1,000 new homes annually, applying a 35% affordable housing obligation for developments over 11 homes.
  • Government-backed schemes since 2010 have helped over 829,000 households purchase a home.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Vicky Ford Con Chelmsford

In my Chelmsford constituency, there is a shortage of affordable housing. Around 360 families are currently housed in temporary accommodation, and this is an all-time high. Locally, many new homes have been built. In the Chelmsford City Council area, around 1,000 new homes have been built in each of the last five years. When a new development of over a threshold of 11 homes is built, our local authority applies an affordable housing obligation of 35% of the housing. As a result, many hundreds of new affordable homes have been built each year in the Chelmsford area. In fact, across the country since 2010, Government-backed schemes have helped over 829,000 households to purchase a home. Despite that, however, in areas such as Chelmsford, the demand for affordable homes is outstripping the number of new affordable homes being built.

Other contributors (1)
  • Vicky Ford Con Chelmsford

    The purpose of this Bill is to enable local authorities to apply an affordable housing obligation to conversions of commercial property to residential use. That would not be a top-down, blanket rule set by Whitehall. It would be up to each local authority to decide whether it wished to apply an affordable housing obligation to conversions in its area, and what percentage to use.

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